Mother, Wife, and Warrior
by Wedjatqi
Summary: Teyla reflects on her life one evening - on her work, her children, and being married to John Sheppard. A sequel to 'Lost'. Complete.


**Title**: Mother, Wife and Warrior.

**Part**: 1/1

**Rating**: **M**

**Warnings:** Slow paced fic (for the most part). AU. Fluffy at times. Adult scenes.

**Disclaimers**: I own no part of the Stargate world, I make no money from this and I wish that I could make money from having such fun.

**Note: **This fic is set in the future, in the AU world following my fic 'Lost'. You don't have to have read 'Lost', but there are many references to it in this fic. There are also references to events set after Lost, which I haven't written yet, but are in my head, so there are tasters for those future fics in here as well.

**Note2:** This was written in response to Camy's request for fics, posted at Beya, as she is celebrating her 20-year anniversary on the 27th May. I started out on just having Teyla reflecting on her life as she trains, but it developed into a study into her future life following Lost. My Muse seems to have been on permanent sabbatical of late, but abruptly reappeared as I started this fic. So, Camy, this one is for you. I hope you enjoy this little fic all from Teyla's POV, since I know you prefer her voice. Congrats on your big day.

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Her arms ached deeply as she finally relaxed her arms, the late afternoon sun now too low, allowing the evening chill into the air. Her bare arms and feet were cooling, the grass between her toes growing damp. As she dropped her arms to her sides, the blood rushed back to her overworked muscles, the weight of the bantos rods in her hands eased abruptly. It had not been that long a work out, but on top of the last months of intense training at the new World Defence training facility, meant that she felt nicely tired.

She had been assisting in training new recruits for many years now, but only recently had the position been altered to more hours and more responsibility in the new Base. Now that the children were older, she had more time to dedicate to working and those at the new training facility had approached her several months ago to join their latest course. She thoroughly enjoyed the work, and it had afforded her the time and focus to increase her own training. She had not been as fit and focused on her physical abilities in some long time. Having had four children and living the years since running around caring for them, as well as the natural lassitude of increasing age, meant that her physical stamina had lessened somewhat. The last few months had changed that since she had been training almost every moment that she worked, and at physical training that she did not normally employ at home with her own sparring and workouts. Now she had to run assault courses, climb walls and ropes and dive into deep swimming pools. It was all very enjoyable and fulfilling, but tiring by the end of the day.

She walked across the dampening grass, the cold seeping into her feet far too quickly, and she moved quietly up the warmed wooden steps to the large back porch. She drank down some water and then turned her attention to stretching and cooling down her body under the protection of the porch. She stretched out her legs, arms and back, taking her time as she watched the sun sink completely from view, dipping down behind the tall trees at the end of the back garden.

The bright colours of the evening stretched across the sky and she lingered longer than necessary with her stretches. From behind her, she could smell the lingering smells of dinner, but no one had called her in, knowing that she wished to continue her training. She had ignored the smell until now, but now her senses latched onto it and her stomach grumbled loudly for attention. She remained outside for a moment longer though, wishing to enjoy the solitude and purity of the moment.

Finally, the demands of hunger forced her to move away from the growing darkness of the evening. She retrieved her bantos rods, towel and water bottle and trod towards the backdoor. As it opened she was surrounded by the rush of warmth, the scent of food and the noise of her children in the house. She walked through the small utility room, pausing just in time before she stepped onto Jake's skateboard. Sighing with annoyance she reached down and picked it up – she had spoken to him about this many times.

As she straightened, she noticed that the washing machine had not triggered properly earlier and the cycle had not started. Muttering an old Athosian curse that her father would certainly not have approved of, she hit her hand against the machine and the cycle began to turn. There were new machines available that washed and dried the clothes all within one machine in half the time, but she had resisted getting one yet, even when Rodney had offered to make one from scratch for her and the family. She still liked the feeling of air-dried clothing, hung out in the garden to dry. She used the separate drier next to the washing machine occasionally, but only in the winter months and even then less than others would. Standing outside and hanging up the washing, usually with one or more of the children, always took her back to her own youth and one of the few clear memories she had of her mother. She had helped Mother hang out their washed clothes, though some days it had been with father, but it was those times with Mother that she recalled with the most pleasure. Standing in the open air of Old Athos, the scent of vera flowers in the breeze swaying through the trees as she and Mother hung up the clothing together.

She paused and looked back out the tiny back window to the growing darkness outside. Only Jake would join her in that task out in this garden now, and that was because he was still too young to make up excuses. Jake was six years old now, and yet it seemed only yesterday that she and John had found out that they would be gifted a third child, despite their older years. Now, Jake was already six and the years had passed with such speed.

Her thoughts drifted from her youngest son to her eldest, Torren. Torren was currently living on Earth, having taken full advantage of the education and career opportunities that Earth had provided all the family. At first Torren had moved back and forward between Earth and New Athos, but had eventually decided to remain on Earth to study his new career. He had surprised them all by deciding to become a doctor, something that Carson had confessed that Torren had been discussing with him for many years. Torren's greatest concern had been leaving the Pegasus galaxy for such extended periods, leaving his Kanaan and his second family there. Kanaan had understood and had been allowed to bring his family to Earth a few times to visit. Torren was only part way through his training, but with his expenses paid by Home World Defence, he would have a position working for the Stargate programme when he qualified in the future. Like Carson and Jennifer, Torren would be giving of his skills on a frontline, walking into battle situations to care for others. Teyla honoured that decision of her son, respected it and felt proud of his choice, yet her natural mothering instinct feared and worried for the day when he left to begin that front line work. Though, for now, he was living on Earth and able to stay with them when he was on vacation breaks. He nearly always spent Christmas and much of the summer months here with them and she looked forward to those times greatly, though she spoke with him sometimes twice a week via the internet, she always loved having all four of her children together under one roof.

The washing machine vibrated as its cycle spun, drawing her back to her grumbling stomach and that her mind had wandered. She eyed the machine's display suspiciously before she walked away, and headed through the dinning room. Over the large polished wooden surface were strewn books and pieces of paper. At one end sat Charin, technically on her vacation time from college, but she was here working hard on her latest essay.

"How is your work coming along?" Teyla asked her eldest daughter.

"It is not," Charin replied sternly from where she was bent over her laptop, papers and open books around her. Despite the availability of almost all books in electronic form, the physical nature of books had not disappeared, which pleased Teyla. She enjoyed seeing the books spread open over the table's surface, Charin's scribbled notes tucked between the pages.

She paused by the side of the table and looked down at some of the pieces of notepaper covered with handwritten notes, some in Athosian she noticed. She picked up one page and smiled at the written language of her people. It pleased her no end to think of her own people's language, written or spoken, and since one eventful time back in Atlantis when the power of the Stargate's translation had ceased over them, she had discovered finally how the Earth languages actually sounded in comparison to the Athosian she had always heard.

She smiled at the page, remembering that difficult week when half the city hadn't been able to understand the other, since the nanites, or whatever it was that allowed people from different planets to understand each other after passing through a Stargate, had failed. It had been shocking to no longer be able to understand what John and the others had been saying to her. For the first time she had actually heard the languages of Earth, as well as Ronon's Satedan, and they had heard her Athosian for the first time. What had made life considerably easier was that she had full grasp of the written English language and that had allowed her and John to communicate. During the week in which Rodney and his team struggled to understand the Ancestor technology that allowed such understanding under normal circumstances, she and John had learnt to speak each other's language. It had been frustrating at first, but had soon become very enjoyable. She smiled, lost in sweet memories, as she set down Charin's paper, remembering that time, just before Elizabeth had been born.

"Why are you smiling?" Charin demanded. "If I don't get this paper done in time then I fail the whole course!"

Charin had a very stable and even temperament usually, with amazing patience, even during her most difficult of teenage years, but when she lost her patience and her temper it was with a gruff and sullen aggression. Like her father. Teyla smiled patiently down at her daughter.

"I was smiling at your beautiful Athosian writing, Daughter," she replied with careful amounts of rebuke and understanding.

Charin turned her green eyes up at her with an expression of reluctant apology. "Sorry," she muttered. "I just can't think with all that noise!"

Teyla frowned at that and only now registering the usual heavy music dully heard from the room above. "It is no louder than normal," Teyla remarked of Elizabeth's music.

"It's because she's talking to Malcolm again," Charin muttered slightly bitterly as she jabbed at her laptop.

Teyla frowned up at the ceiling again, resisting the urge to follow where Charin wanted to take her. "Malcolm and Elizabeth are good friends as well as train together, so of course they talk frequently."

"You'd think they had enough time to talk at college and shopping at the mall," Charin muttered.

Teyla frowned down at her daughter's grumpiness. "What is bothering you?" She asked.

Charin kept her attention fixed on her laptop screen, sudden forced indifference in her expression. "Nothin'."

"You have not been in the best of moods since the end of semester," Teyla pointed out.

She did not add that she was a little frustrated with her eldest daughter's 'grouchiness', as John referred to it. Charin was particularly close to John and usually confided in him, even on the most personal of matters if she felt the need to talk with someone, and that someone was usually her father. Teyla had tried never to feel negative about that fact, for she was happy that Charin and John were so close, but at times she wished that Charin would confide in her as easily. John had told her that it was because she and Charin were in some ways too alike. Teyla thought it was that John and Charin were so alike. She wondered if John knew why Charin was like this lately.

Charin looked up at her briefly. "I just think Elizabeth gets away with a lot in this house," she replied. As usual, her language became more formal when she was grumpy, like Teyla.

"Such as?" Teyla asked. It was hardly the first time the two girls clashed, though they loved each other, they had spent many years arguing with each other. John had more than once remarked that it was good that Jake had turned up, or he would have drowned in a 'sea of oestrogen' with Torren away much of the time.

"She doesn't understand that I have a lot of work to do. Just because she has chosen a course that means she needs more muscle than brains," Charin grumbled.

"Charin," Teyla warned. "Your sister's dedication to her athletic abilities is to be respected, not criticised."

Charin began to roll her eyes but stopped herself. "How am I supposed to concentrate when she's got all her friends round all day and then plays loud music all evening?"

"This is Elizabeth's vacation time from college as much as it is yours," Teyla reminded Charin. "Perhaps you should be spending more time relaxing as she does."

"I have three papers to write before next semester starts," Charin replied her eyes lifting to Teyla's with clear worry. "I haven't even started the first one and I've got to present it the first day back!"

"Perhaps you should ask your sister to give you some space for a few days, to keep the house quiet?" Teyla suggested, not for the first time feeling like she was once again negotiating trading agreements like she used to when it came to her children.

"She won't listen to me," Charin complained. "I asked her three times today to keep the noise down, but she just argues back."

"Is that how you are planning to handle difficult people in your future career?" Teyla asked. "I think it is time to practice what you will one day put into regular practice, Daughter," Teyla told her as she walked away. She knew there was a great difference between handling difficult people and situations when working and when those difficulties present themselves among family. Family hurt more, and they demanded more as well.

She left Charin with that thought and headed out and down the corridor towards the kitchen. She paused in the middle of the hallway.

"Jake!" She hissed out as she reached down for the random collection of rocks, toys and, oddly, a cup coaster, spread across the hallway. She gathered the collection up and walked on towards the kitchen. She paused at the end of the hallway and looked into the living room, but Jake was not there. His mess was though. She shook her head as she entered. Each family member had a brightly coloured crate in which to keep things in this room, and the crates were all kept in a nice shelving unit to one side. Jake's crate frequently was on the floor and its contents strewn about the room. She dropped what she had gathered in the hallway into the overturned crate and set it in the middle of the mess. She turned away, to see a pile of John's magazines had fallen over and littered the space around his favourite chair. As she piled them back up, she found a day old mug, at the bottom of which she saw another one of Jake's toys. She carried the mug back out of the living room into the hallway. She looked up the stairs, listening for Jake's usual noise, but she could not hear anything over Elizabeth's music. She was just glad Elizabeth kept her door closed or the sound would deafen them all.

Shaking her head, Teyla entered the kitchen. She would find Jake later, for now she was seriously hungry. Dirty plates and bowls filled the sink, only a few feet away from the dishwasher. Teyla tipped out John's old mug around the mess, fished out Jake's toy from inside, a bright plastic fish, and rinsed it. She put John's mug in the dishwasher and then left the door open to remind her to get the children to clear up.

Moving on to the oven, she noticed that someone had turned it off completely. She opened it up to reveal the remainder of the casserole that John had made, the last of which was designated her dinner, but as someone had forgotten to leave the oven on at a low setting for her, her portion was now cold. She pulled it out and put it in the fast blast oven, jabbing the buttons with more annoyance than was necessary. She loved that her girls had more free time now that they were on vacation, but they clearly required a reminder on how thinking of others by keeping the kitchen tidy. She piled her nice hot casserole serving into a bowl and added the last of the cooled steamed vegetables from the pot on the stove. From the way the carrots and beans had been sliced, she knew Charin had prepared them. She wondered if that had darkened Charin's mood further – having to help out with dinner when she had papers to write.

She sat down at the kitchen table, over which was spread several of Jake's drawings for her too see. He always left his drawings out for all to see and judge. She ate her meal in silence, at least as much as she could considering the music upstairs, and smiled at her son's latest creations. He was a very advanced child, to the point where it had been suggested that he may benefit from a more specialised school for gifted children. The intake for such schools would not start for six months time yet, but she and John would have to sit down soon and begin to research the schools, despite one already recommended by Jake's head teacher. They had not liked the one the lady had suggested because it would mean Jake would have to spend his week away from the family. She and John were agreed that their son would not study at a boarding school, they wanted him close by, and Teyla suspected that John felt as she did, that their last child was growing up fast and that they should enjoy it as much as they could.

She looked through each of Jake's latest drawings as she ate. He liked the family to pick a favourite and that one would then be attached to the front of the fridge door until Jake made some new drawings and a new selection would be presented for everyone's consideration. Teyla noticed that one had writing across it and she turned it, admiring her son's writing skills, though she saw Elizabeth's writing there as well, spelling out the word for him so he could copy it. It was the name of the latest adventure movie that he wished to see. The adverts for it had been displayed everywhere and Jake was very excited about it. It had been released this week, but they would not go until the weekend when the entire family could go. This appeared to be Jake's way of reminding everyone of the importance of the movie and that it must not be missed. Not that he hadn't stopped talking about it.

Teyla picked up one of the large children's crayons and added her star to the corner of another drawing that displayed a detailed colourful drawing of a garden. She saw that two other stars were there already, so no doubt this would be the one to go on the fridge. She scanned through the rest of the pictures to find the one remaining star and found it, in John's hand, on the one with the aeroplane soaring over a house. John always put his star on anything with an aircraft on it.

She set the pictures aside, with the garden picture on top so that Jake could see the three stars, and focused on finishing her meal. The music abruptly stopped from upstairs and Teyla almost missed the deep rhythms that had been throbbing through the ceiling.

"Thank God and Ancestors for that!" Charin shouted loudly from down the hallway.

Teyla smiled at her daughter's phrase, but the smile dimmed when a new piece of music started up. Teyla suspected it may have been in response to the shout. She stood up from the table and put her empty bowl and fork in the dishwasher as she heard Charin heading down the hallway outside.

"Lizzie!" Charin shouted up the stairs at full volume.

Teyla rolled her eyes as she moved towards the doorway.

"Lizzie!" Charin shouted even louder.

The music from upstairs abruptly grew louder as Elizabeth's door opened. "What?" Came the far-too-innocent call back down the stairs.

"Can you shut that noise off for half an hour, at least?" Charin demanded, copying one of John's phrases, probably without realising it.

Teyla stepped out of the kitchen and into the hallway. Charin stood at the bottom of the light wood staircase, looking up at Elizabeth stood at the top.

"I've got the door shut," Elizabeth replied, again innocently. This was a game the two had played far too often with each other.

"Your room is right above the dinning room and you know it," Charin protested.

Teyla looked up from Charin's dark hair to Elizabeth, or Lizzie as she preferred. Elizabeth looked more like John, with her tall lanky build, but her hair was light like Teyla's. That was when it wasn't dyed black like it was now. The black hair made her slightly paler skin more apparent and her green eyes, which all of John's children had oddly inherited, stand out more. She was dressed in a tracksuit, of which she had many, but on her they looked far more stylish and presentable than on most. She was a very pretty girl, but did not seem to notice that fact or care. Her male friends saw it, and the small number of boyfriends she had had in the past had seemed more like only vague interests and not all that important to her. What was important to Lizzie, was her training and getting through her course so that she could become the world-class athlete that she wished to become. She was already one of the College's top athletes and no doubt had a long and successful career ahead of her. But, right now, she was on her vacation and she was happy and relaxed with her time off, unlike Charin.

"Why are you studying now?" Lizzie asked as she brushed a strand of hair from her face, the tattoo along her forearm coming into view. It was a delicate beautiful design, but it was an unusual place for a beautiful young woman to place a tattoo, but Teyla understood the meaning of it. Elizabeth had taken the time to explain what she wanted to have done before having it inked, which had surprised Teyla, although not as much as John's agreement to it. Teyla knew Elizabeth would have had the tattoo anyway, but it showed how far the relationship between Elizabeth and John had come since their earlier days of disagreement.

It had been only a few years ago that the distance between John and Elizabeth had reached crisis point, but that time had resulted in a new start and new understanding between the two, as father and daughter had gotten to properly know one another. John's clear easy and close relationship with Charin had been a major factor, a jealousy of Elizabeth's. John had been at fault in not making the effort to get to know his second daughter as much as Charin, but Elizabeth had not helped as she had been very sulky and difficult in your younger teenage years. It pleased Teyla no end to watch John and Elizabeth growing closer over the years. Though Charin was very like John in temperament and in love with the same hobbies, Elizabeth and John shared a closer deeper sense of self, both of them struggling against the world and against the pressure of a strong and famous father.

Whereas John's father had suppressed and tried to control John, John had stepped completely away from affecting the course of Elizabeth's life. Charin had decided her future career very early on in her life and she seemed to be sticking with that, but Elizabeth had been conflicted and confused, and had found John's distance unhelpful. Elizabeth had wanted his help and approval, but had resented wishing so as well, and seeing his clear love and ease with Charin had alienated Elizabeth further from John. Teyla had worked as a third party between them for years, but it had all risen to a head several years ago. That watershed time had changed the family balance a great deal and Teyla sometimes wondered if Charin felt any jealousy at John's new stronger relationship with Elizabeth.

Teyla watched the two girls now, both of them strong young women. Where they were like John in many ways that Teyla could see, the one area, other than appearance, when she could see herself the most in them was in their arguments. The two girls stared at each other down and up the length of the staircase and tried to outwit each other, to find the weakness in the other's argument and exploit it. John said she did the very same. She even heard her own words from their lips frequently and she knew that Charin had been rather fearsome in debating when she had been at school. Teyla had been trying for years to turn those skills they had towards negotiation and tolerance, but it seemed that when it came to each other, the girls just forgot patience and even their love of one another.

"Just shut the damn music off!" Charin abruptly shouted, having lost her temper again.

"No, this is my vacation and it isn't upsetting anyone else, but you. Get over it," Elizabeth replied.

"Girls!" Teyla interrupted, stepping further into the hallway, making them aware of her presence. "You are both grown women, are you always going to fight like children?"

The two girls looked sheepish and there was some eye rolling, which Teyla chose to ignore.

"Lizzie, I am sure you can understand that Charin has much work to do and requires quiet time," she told her youngest daughter up the stairs. Elizabeth grudgingly nodded, but before she could add a counter argument, which Teyla knew was building, Teyla turned to Charin. "And Charin, remember this is Lizzie's vacation and she should be able to relax and enjoy her time."

"Why can't you just take the night off and relax for a change?" Lizzie asked Charin, but the challenge was gone from her voice now and she sounded curious.

"I've got too much to do and since your friends were here all day, I didn't get anything done," Charin replied.

"You could have gone out to the library," Lizzie pointed out.

"You could have gone anywhere else," Charin countered.

"We were watching movies," Lizzie replied by way of explanation.

"Perhaps you should communicate more effectively with each other in the future, so that both of you can enjoy use of the house," Teyla told them, almost rolling her eyes at herself at her words that she had said so often before to them. The girls both nodded automatically. Teyla looked up at Elizabeth. "Have you any plans for the rest of the evening?"

"Just, hanging out. Dad said we might go to the park tomorrow, if he's not called in," she replied.

"Yes, after visiting the aquarium if you wish to join us and Jake." Elizabeth nodded, surprising Teyla a little, but pleasing her, for finally her girls were growing out of their more difficult years at last and willing to spend time as a family. She turned to Charin. "We will all be out tomorrow and you will have the house to yourself if you like. You could study tomorrow."

"I guess," Charin conceded.

"Perhaps you both could sit and watch a movie now," Teyla suggested, gesturing towards the living room.

"Okay," Lizzie agreed readily from where she had sat down on the top stair.

Charin turned towards Teyla, her mood lifting. "Aren't we still taking Jakey to see his movie tomorrow night?"

"If your father is called into work, we can always go the following day," Teyla replied.

"Or we could take Jakey tonight?" Charin suggested. "You and Dad don't really want to see the movie, can we go?"

"It is likely that Jake will want to see it again anyway, so I will no doubt see it another day," Teyla considered with a smile. Both girls looked suddenly brighter. "But, you must promise to come straight home afterwards," she told them. Both Charin and Elizabeth could drive and were good at it, but that freedom that been exploited in the past.

"Of course," Charin replied.

"Course we will, Mother," Lizzie echoed as she stood up on the stairs. "Jake?" She shouted through the house. "Jake?" She called again as she headed away along the upstairs landing in search of her younger brother.

"We'll need some money for popcorn and drinks," Charin pointed out to Teyla excitedly, her papers suddenly forgotten in the face of an outing.

Teyla retrieved her personal electronic pad from her bag hanging in the nearby coat cupboard. She transferred enough funds straight into Charin's account. "You must tidy up the kitchen first," she instructed before finalising the transfer.

"But," Charin started, but stopped and nodded. "Of course," she replied before she turned and headed quickly upstairs to no doubt change her clothes.

Lizzie's music shut off upstairs and the sound of fast pattering of feet upstairs told Teyla that Jake had been informed of the trip.

"Jake?" She called up the stairs and he appeared, his little face all bright and excited. "You must tidy your things away in the living room before you leave," she told him.

"Yes, yes," Jake replied as he ran down the stairs at far too fast a pace for Teyla's liking.

"Carefully," she warned, moving forward to catch him if he fell, but he reached the Base of the stairs intact and raced past her.

"I will tidy up, then we'll go to see the movie. I'm so excited. Charlie saw it yesterday and he saw it was the _best_ movie _ever_…" He disappeared into the living room, talking away as he always did. She smiled as she followed him, pausing at the entrance to the living room to watch him carefully tidying away his things, talking away to himself as he did.

The girls rushed down the stairs behind her, a cloud of perfume around them, the two different scents not combining all that well.

"Tidy up this kitchen first," Teyla reminded them as she headed into the kitchen to make herself a tea, that she would sit and enjoy quietly once they had left.

"I'll find out the start times, you fill the dishwasher," Charin instructed.

"That's hardly fair," Elizabeth replied.

"You want to miss the start because we were arguing about who fills the dishwasher?" Charin countered.

"I'll do it this time and _you_ fill it tomorrow," Elizabeth negotiated.

"Sure," Charin replied as she tapped away at the main computer screen set into the kitchen wall.

Teyla activated the electric kettle and pulled out a clean fresh mug from the cabinet above Elizabeth's head who was filling on the dishwasher. "Do not forget to set it running if it is full," she reminded her daughter. There was some muttering into the washer. "Is your father working or playing video games in the study?" Teyla asked.

"He's writing some report," Elizabeth replied. "_He_ can work when I have music playing," she added for Charin's benefit.

"He's grown immune to you," Charin replied. "The next showing will start in just under an hour. That'll give us loads of time for buying food first."

Jake's excited giggles from the entrance proclaimed his arrival. Teyla noticed that he had already gotten his coat and boots on. He was clapping his hands together excitedly. Teyla moved towards him and crouched down to secure his bootlaces.

"Remember to always stay with your sisters," she reminded Jake and he nodded solemnly. "You are not to leave them, even for a moment." He nodded again.

When he was younger, Jake had tended to wander off to look at something 'interesting' and since Jake found many things 'interesting' it had caused more than a few terrified moments. It had been cured finally one day by John, who had had a talk with Jake in private about it and since then Jake had been much better. He sometimes just didn't realise that others had wandered away from him, but he was considerably better and had never walked away from them again. She wondered what it had been that John had said that had worked so efficiently. She had tried to ask both of them, but Jake hadn't understood what she was asking so subtly and John had simply smiled and said that it had been a 'guy talk' and therefore not for her to hear. She had tried various ways to find out, but John had been particularly consistent on keeping his secret.

The girls pushed past, the perfume and the clink of electronic keys in their hands and Teyla just got the last bootlace secure before Jake dashed away after them.

"Bring me back some popcorn," Teyla called out to them as the front door opened and they rushed out.

"Yes, Mother," Elizabeth replied.

"Drive carefully," Teyla called out as the door slammed shut behind them all.

She moved to the front kitchen window and watched as the three children climbed into the furthest car. She was pleased to see them pause to transfer Jake's higher seat into Charin's car and that Elizabeth took a few moments bent inside the back of the car to secure him in. Teyla resisted the urge to go out and make sure he was properly secure in the car seat, but she knew the girls knew how to keep him safe and in fact Jake would soon spot if he wasn't belted in properly.

The girls both disappeared into the car, the lights came on briefly at the back and the car pulled out of the driveway and disappeared from sight. As usual, Teyla quietly took a moment, asking the Ancestors to watch over them. The faith she had in the Ancestors from her days before Atlantis had waned slightly, but she still felt there was a benevolent force linked with the Ancestors towards which she asked for protection for her precious children. They were older and wiser and had a life to live, one which she could no longer lead them through by the hand. Though Jake was still young, he was a clever boy and was already showing signs of pulling away from cuddles as young boys do. He found so much interesting that he was in some ways growing up faster than his siblings had.

Her arms felt empty of hugs many days and working more herself meant that she did not see the children home as she used to do. John collected Jake from school half the time, or the girls did if he could not, and with their focus on College the girls spent much of their time with friends and studies. Teyla was just lucky that their college was so close to home, though she sometimes suspected that soon either of them would want to move into student housing instead of coming home. They often spent some nights staying at student friend's homes. That had worried John particularly at first, since he suspected his girls were sleeping at male friend's houses. She had had to talk to him a few times about easing off on such matters and trusting his daughters, however he always replied that it was the boys that he was concerned about. He and Ronon had a particular way of assessing potential boyfriends of the girls and had frightened away more than perhaps even Charin and Elizabeth were aware.

However, tonight they would behave, for their little brother was with them and they had seemed as interested in the new movie as Jake. Perhaps that had something to do with the half-naked male lead actor displayed on the movie posters. Smiling Teyla returned to the kettle, poured the boiling water over the tea bag, and carried her steaming mug into the dark living room. She sat in John's large comfy chair and just listened to the silence of the house. She loved her children dearly, but the silence was wonderful.

The room grew darker as the night encroached and the only light that spilled into the room was from was from the hallway light. She sipped the last of her tea as she looked down the length of the living room to the patio doors that were closed to the back garden. The winter months were past and the promise of summer was in the air, but the darkness was still apparent in the evenings. Jake would be up far past his bedtime tonight, but then it was not as if he had school tomorrow with the holidays in full effect. She glanced to the shelving unit and saw that Jake had returned his crate to its space as she had asked. He was a good boy.

She looked over the other crates, noting that most were overflowing except hers. Beyond the shelving unit stood her old Athosian side table along which sat various Athosian items from her old home, though included several baskets she had recently woven, their bright colours looking dull in the darkness. Above them hung her display case in which her favoured weapons were stored. They were always stored away in there, but she trained with them frequently. John had had the case constructed by someone he knew through work. It was made of shatterproof material and could only be opened by the top clasp with a certain technique needed to free it. It had been their concern that the children would get into the sharp weapons when they were younger, but none of them had tried. Even Jake hadn't seemed all that interested, but then he had grown up seeing her training with them and other weapons, and understood that the weapons were not to be played with. She remembered the first time Jake had seen her and John sparring in the back garden, for Jake had cried his little heart out. He had thought his mother and father were properly fighting.

She stood up and moved down the living room to the display case. In the centre sat her most favoured weapon – her long curved knife, which she had purchased on the 'planet from hell' that had changed her and John's life so completely. The blade had saved theirs and many other lives over the years since. When she had purchased the knife from an older woman, whose passed husband had been its former owner, and the woman had told Teyla that the blade had a soul of its own. After all the years using that knife, and her own love of it, Teyla could believe that. The blade seemed a part of her, a living tool that had been such a large component of her life, if not in defending her and her family, then in her training. She reached up and touched her fingers to the glass front, almost regretting that the blade was kept in there, but at the same time knew that it would preserve it and keep others safe from it.

Her mind drifted back to those days when the long knife had been new to her. Those many days lost on a planet that she and John had thought to be their last home. Their lives had been desperate and in constant danger, and they had not expected to ever be rescued. The flashes of various moments of those days lingered through her mind – filled with death and fear, but also filled with new beginnings.

Her life now could not be further removed from that time. She was surrounded by family, and most of her friends were only a short trip away. Her life was full, safe in most respects and, where on that world she had spent much of her time in silent still hyperawareness, now she lived surrounded by noise and activity and none of it worried her. She knew there were potential dangers out beyond this planet as well as on it, but that would hardly change, and it was nothing compared to what she had lived through before. Her rather sullen mood this evening began to lift. Her children were safe and strong, her friends safe and close by, her work important and fulfilling. And she had a loving husband who had worked alongside her to keep all of that and more.

She dropped her fingers from the glass and looked up towards the ceiling, listening for any movement. She had almost forgotten John was upstairs, as he was only this quiet when he was working, so she knew he would still hard at work. Unless he had finished and had turned his attention to the latest of computer games that lived up in the study. She would see if he was busy and if he wanted anything to eat or drink.

She walked out of the living room and climbed the stairs. Elizabeth's room stood open opposite the top of the staircase. Teyla peered in to see if anything needed to go downstairs. Elizabeth kept the space reasonably tidy, but tended to forget to bring down used cups and plates for several days. There was nothing obvious, so Teyla turned to the right and peered into Charin's room, to find it impeccably tidy, no doubt due to her having to work on her studies. Moving around to the left, Teyla followed the landing back past Elizabeth's door to Jake's door. As usual, there were toys across the floor, but not many, which surprised her. The next door was set at the front of the house and was the large family bathroom. The final open door on this level to the left was her and John's bedroom. Just before that door stood the staircase up to the next floor. She headed up the smaller flight of stairs that led up to the second level. They had been particularly drawn to this house for several reasons, but especially because what had been an antic room before had been converted into a proper second floor. She reached the small landing at the top. There was a small bathroom opposite, and to the left a spare bedroom used for visitors, but mostly for Torren when he stayed. His spare clothes and things filled the wardrobe and units.

The door to the right stood open and she entered into the study. It stretched the length of the house, though the ceiling was slanted to one side following the line of the roof. The furthest end, at the back of the house, held a low comfortable sofa opposite an old style television to which were attached the two computer consoles that John owned, and in the chest nearby all the other games were stored away. He and Rodney spent much of their time up here playing them, and Torren usually joined them when he was staying. She was quite good herself, but did not feel the apparent lure that the men did for the games. She enjoyed the more modern active holographic versions where one used a sword or bow to defeat the magic animated creatures in the game.

However, tonight the television screen was dark and it was clear that John had not been playing the games. Opposite where she stood in the doorway another sofa stood up against the far wall, and in front of it, lay a large collection of Jake's toys across the floor and some more drawings on a small table. So this was where Jake had been spending his evening.

She looked around the open door to look to the other end of the study where the wide desk stood below the front small windows. John sat at the desk, his back to her, two computer tablets glowing in front of him, though he was currently bent over his laptop, his fingers tapping away. He was engrossed in what he was doing and had not heard her enter, which meant that he was very focused. Living in a full house gave one the ability to ignore disturbances. If he had had Jake in here earlier with him as he worked he was likely to be making up for lost time, not that he ever lost his patience with Jake and their son's constant chattering. Teyla suspected that years working with Rodney had allowed John to tolerate such constant talking, and had probably prepared him to live in a busy home. She smiled as she noted to mention that to Rodney when she next saw him, Rodney would like that theory.

She watched John working for a moment. He had grey throughout his hair now, but rather than making him seem much older, it had made him seem distinguished. He was still dressed in his uniform from the Base, even though he had been back several hours. It was similar to his old Atlantis uniform in that it was black and comfortable enough to wear, but it had tiny new details, such as the bars across his shoulders and the stars on his collars. Down the buttons at the front, down the sleeves and outer seams of the trousers there ran a band of colour and again a star each side. John muttered frequently about those fancy additions to the uniform that he didn't like, but it suited him very well. She did not see him in it enough, only seeing him in them when he left in the mornings and when he came home if she was home before him. He usually changed into clothes that are more comfortable for him as soon as he was home. She had noticed that he had come up here almost immediately when he had gotten home this afternoon and that he had prepared tonight's casserole in advance last night. He looked very intent in his work.

She moved further into the room and he glanced round towards her now aware of her. He had started to wear glasses for all the computer work he needed to do and it had meant that his flight time had been cut, much to his annoyance. He had been given some laser treatment on his eyes years ago which had allowed him to keep flying, but lately his eyesight had deteriorated due to the amount of computer work he did and as most people's eyes did with age. He had reluctantly admitted that he was 'getting old' and had started wearing the glasses when he read. She liked them on him, but then she suspected that even an old plastic bag would look fetching on her very handsome husband.

"Hey," he greeted her with a smile. "Did you get your bit of the casserole?" He asked.

She grinned. "Yes, it survived to reach me," she told him.

"Training go well?" He asked, his attention back on the laptop.

"Yes, it did," she replied as she moved across the study towards the sofa, but paused to tidy up Jake's toys and pictures. "I am aching from it though."

"Makes you look good though," John replied and she glanced up from her tidying to see him send her an approving smile.

"Thank you," she replied as she dumped a plastic train and aeroplane into Jake's play box that he had brought up here.

"How's the training facility going?" He asked.

"Well enough. The latest recruits seemed rather stunned at first, as they always do," she said and he chuckled with understanding his attention back on his laptop. "I asked Zelenka if he would like to join the skiing trip this year."

"He was at the facility?"

"He was there for the introduction to alien tech course," she replied as she added Jake's drawings to the top of the box and carried it towards the door.

"Is he coming skiing then?"

"I think he may, but he has to check his diary," she replied as she headed out to the landing and carried Jake's box down the stairs and into Jake's room. She threw the toys from the floor of his room into the box as well and put the box in its customary space. She then returned up the stairs and walked back into the study.

"I think that he regrets missing the last few years' trips," she continued as if she had not left the room.

"He probably wanted a break from Rodney," John replied.

Teyla had been on the way to the sofa to sit up here with John, but changed her mind and headed instead over to the desk. "Have you finished your work?" She asked, seeing that he was on the internet. The tablets linked to the Base system, on which he transferred his work were in sleep mode, so he must have gone onto something else.

"I finished the reports ages ago. I've been looking at genius schools for Jake," he replied. He sat back slightly and she saw a list he had complied displayed on the laptop screen.

"Six, that is far more than I anticipated," she replied, amused at his continual use of the term 'genius schools'. He was extremely proud of his son's intelligence, though he did not boast to others, except Rodney.

She reached the side of his chair and leant her side against his shoulder as she looked down at the screen. "Are all of these close by?"

"They're all within an hour's drive, though this one is further but it's on a train route," he pointed to one. "They're all slightly different, some focusing on math and science in particular, some more arty, or some are more religious focused," he explained various points down his list.

"Which are your favourite ones?" She asked setting her hand on his shoulders and settled against him better.

"These two look cool," he replied tapping the computer to pull up two webpages, which sat side by side on the screen. He didn't sit forward this time, but stayed back in his chair against her. "This one is where Lorne's nephew goes, Lorne says its great place. This one though has the highest result rates in pretty much the entire country and it's linked to cadet training as well."

Teyla reached forward and tapped the screen, looking through the pages from each of the two places. "They both seem nice, though one expects them to put smiling children on their webpages."

"That they do," John replied and she could tell his attention was drifting, as had his hand around her waist. "I've ordered their info and stuff, should get sent into the family inbox tomorrow."

"Good," she replied as she settled back against his shoulder again, his arm around her and she ran her hand over his still full head of hair and down his neck. "And did you have a good day? I feel as if I have not seen you since yesterday."

"Not bad," he replied, implying that there had been some stress in his day.

"Will you have tomorrow free still?" She asked. Due to his important position he was often called away on weekends and despite trying to book time off work, he was often called in. Many days passed in which they seemed to just sleep beside one another, not that there was any loss of affection between them, but they had fallen into a busy routine and did not get to spend much time alone when they were both awake. She could not remember when they had last sat and watched the sun sink at the end of the day together.

"Should be," he replied. "We've had some trouble with a two fighters that won't fly and no one seems to have worked out why. I've been holding off on pulling them, but had to today, so we're down two birds and no one has anything to spare."

"What about the transport Jumpers?" She asked stroking down his neck again.

"I managed to get one to help out if we need it, but for now the Base is going to have to make do," he replied as he reached forward and closed the school screens. "Jake is excited about going to the aquarium."

She settled her hand back across his shoulders. "We can always go another day if you are called in, Jake will understand."

"I promised Lizzie to go practice in the park as well," he replied as he continued to close down the laptop and tablets.

She heard the concern in his voice. "She will understand, and you could always go to the park later in the day even if you are called into the Base early."

"Sure," he replied as he sat back, all the screens shut down. He looked up at her with a smile and she sensed that it had been a long day for him as it had for her. She ran her hand through his hair again. "Would you like to share some tea? Perhaps we could sit outside in the moonlight?"

His arm tightened around her waist. "Sun gone down already?"

She smiled to know that he was thinking as she had, that they had let their ritual slip, but that was the way life had been of late – busy. She stroked her fingers through his hair again. "Yes, for some time, my love."

"It's probably cold out there," he replied after a thought and she was a little disappointed, but suppressed it, for he was right, though it hadn't stopped them before. However, now they were older, the cold had a way of sneaking into the joints far quicker. "We could stay in here instead," he suggested, his arm pulling tighter around her waist and she smiled at his pull, now understanding his reluctance to go outside.

She turned and sat down across his lap, settling her right side against his chest and his arms wrapping around her.

"How long are the kids gonna be out?" he asked, his eyes sparkling.

She grinned at him, tightening her arms around his shoulders and turning into his chest. "For at least another hour and a half," she told him.

"Good," he replied as she pressed her lips tight against his.

As the kiss deepened, an immediate yearning began to bubble up from within her, making it apparent that it had been days since they had shared physical intimacy. His kiss strayed from her mouth, kissing to her jaw and along to her ear and throat. She relaxed her head to one side, giving him more space, her eyes closed tightly, surrendering herself to his touch in a way that she found difficult sometimes with the children asleep in the house close by.

His mouth found her throat and she tilted her head further, turning in towards him more and sliding her hands back and forward along his shoulders. He breathed up to her ear as one of his hands slid up to cup her left breast through her clothes and she sighed in delight. As his thumb grazed over her nipple through the layers of material, she opened her eyes and turned her mouth against his cheek and throat in turn. She licked and kissed his skin, sucking on his earlobe as his hand caressed and the press of his manhood became apparent against her hip. It thrilled her that, after so many years together, that with just kissing and touching that she could arouse him still, and that her body still hungered for him despite the years and number of times they had lain together. In truth the years together had brought greater understanding and freedom in their desire for one another, even if the frequency of such sharing had diminished somewhat.

He knew how to touch her, how to tease her and how to fulfil just as she wanted, and she knew the places to touch him, when to graze his hip, stroke the dip in his lower back and when that hitch in his breathing meant that he was only moments from his orgasm. She knew every part of this man, yet still, when he kissed her, touched her, she felt as if what they had was still new. And with that also lingered the concern that one day he may still change his mind. It was foolish, but as the years passed and occasionally there would be long stretches during which they would not make love, she found herself worrying that she was not as attractive to him as she had once been.

She had found herself looking at her reflection in the mirror lately and clearly noticing the changes of time to her appearance. Those changes could not be ignored and she wondered if she was becoming less attractive to him. She had asked him once about that several years before, but he had seemed to find the idea funny, which she had taken as a good sign. Perhaps, it was just her own feelings in dealing with her age that were the root for that concern. She could feel the difference in training now as compared to when she was younger. She had one knee that had been badly injured many years ago, and though it had only pained her occasionally, those occasions had increased. Her back, though still strong, at times ached after a long day and her skin was not as soft and supple as it had once been. She knew John had complaints of his own, for he shared them with her - old injuries that pulled, or previously broken limbs that ached when it was cold. Though, she knew that most of those complaints of his were shared in order to gain her willing sympathy and then usually a kiss and cuddle. Moments such as those made her wonder if he too sometimes worried that they would hold strong in the years to come. She hoped that he did not, because she could never imagine a day when she did not love him dearly.

She tightened her arms around him now and buried her face against his throat, drawing in his scent and the feel of his body against hers. His clear desire for her filled those dark worried places with renewed confidence and ease. His hands roamed over her, one around her hip, the other between her breasts. She realised he was undoing her shirt, the edges parting and his palm pressed through to touch her skin. She sighed with delight at the contact, feeling warm and comfortable under his touch.

She ran one hand down over his shoulder to his flat toned chest as she sat back slightly, his fingers completing the task of opening the last of her shirt's buttons.

"Shall we go down to our bedroom?" She asked him.

"Or we could stay here," he replied with a lazy smile, his gaze dropping to his hand sliding up from her bared belly up between her breasts.

She looked down at his hand on her, her low-cut bra leaving little material to block his fingers as they ran back down her cleavage. The touch sent wonderful sensations throughout her and as his hand slid out to cup one of her breasts again, she sighed with delight. He massaged her through the material of her bra as he dipped his head and his mouth slid along her jaw to her neck again. She dropped her head back, surrendering herself to the wonderful attention, sliding her own hands over his wide shoulders and warm neck.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered as he placed small kisses down the side of her neck, his breath hot against her skin. She ran a hand up the back of his neck and into his hair, clasping and releasing, massaging in turn.

His mouth lifted from her neck and he pulled her against him, his hands sliding up to her shoulders to pull off her shirt. She rolled her shoulders to help him, enjoying the air against her skin as the material dropped away and he dropped a kiss onto the top of one shoulder. His fingertips ran down her bared back, and she arched her back with a murmur of pleasure, and his fingers caressed back up to the back clasp of her bra. The two sides parted and he pulled the straps down off her shoulders, leaving the bra trapped between their bodies. She leant back into the support of his arm, and he pulled aside the bra, exposing her to him. He had seen her naked more times than she could count, but looking up at him now, she felt her usual flush of arousal and ever so slight touch shyness at the exposure. She arched her back slightly, the ache in her nipples intensifying. His eyes were hooded as he watched them and she watched as he pulled part of his lower lip into his mouth as his hand surrounded her breast again. She let out a moan at the touch, allowing herself to express louder than normal now they were in an empty house.

"Louder, Teyla," he whispered with a mixture of arousal and amusement.

She smiled at the reference to the past, as he dipped his head and brushed his lips against the upper swell of her breast. She arched up towards him, her nipple grazing against his chin, the stubble there adding a new sharper element to the touch. She moaned and closed her eyes as he nuzzled down towards her nipple but then only circled around it with his mouth. She clutched tightly at his back and his hair as she protested with a loud breath at his teasing. He chuckled at her response, but continued to tease by licking down the inside of her breast. She turned her body slightly to aid him in reaching her cleavage with his mouth, but he again retreated and with one last breath over her and he sat up. She murmured at him, her body's demands suddenly louder, but he ignored her request. His hand remained cupping her aching breast and then slid over to her other side to give the other breast the same light teasing attention. Such light contact was very arousing and pleasurable, as were his eyes on her, but the half touch intensified her need more, making the emptiness demand to be filled. However, he seemed in no hurry to touch her more, sitting back to look down at her, watching his hand sliding over her.

"John," she moaned at him finally, both a demand and a sigh of pleasure.

He grinned at her, but it was not with amusement this time, but with the promise of more to follow. She could see in his eyes his enjoyment in the teasing and that he was increasing his own arousal as he did hers. His fingers danced around her right breast, teasing and stroking equally, but still avoiding her straining nipple as he had done with the other. She suspected he could play this game until she would be begging for his mouth on her.

She reached between them to his shirt and began to unfasten the buttons. He wore a thin t-shirt beneath, but even before she had half the over shirt's buttons undone, she gave up, wanting to touch his skin beneath. She ran her hand down to his waist to slip her hand up under the layers of his shirts, and as she did, her palm lightly grazed over his groin. He twitched with the faint contact, but she continued on her intent, sliding her hand up under his shirts to touch against his stomach beneath and up from there, his clothing bunching up over her arm as she did. She was impatient to touch and see him. Looking at him had always been pleasurable, and she constantly enjoyed the luxury of being his wife and able to see him walk around undressed. No one, but his doctor, could look upon John naked except her. She loved that in the night she could slid her hand under his nightclothes, if he wore any, and touch his skin freely, to circle over his hip, his backside or over his chest. Every part of him aroused and pleased her, and being free to touch and look at him was a luxury she valued highly. A luxury that he in turn also enjoyed with her.

He released his hands from her slowly, enough so that she did not fall from his lap, and he pulled his shirts up and off, exposing his wonderful abdomen for her. She set her hands against him even as he was still pulling his arms free of the shirts. The movements he made caused his musculature to move across his chest and arms in the most enjoyable manner and she ran her hands over him with enjoyment.

His arm slid back around her back to support her, as his other hand returned to sliding over her breasts.

"You're so beautiful," he repeated again. They were words he often told her when they made love, but tonight she found herself latching onto the meaning behind them more than normal.

She turned her focus to his equally beautiful body, as she slid her hands over his bared shoulders and up his neck, enjoying the texture of his skin and that his manhood pressed more obviously against her hip now. She shifted her backside on his thigh, rubbing her thigh against his erection and he let out a nice rumble of sound that made her smile. Yes, it appeared that they still had much affect on the other, despite the years.

He leant forward and pressed his nose and lips into the side of her neck again and she felt him inhale deeply. She ran her hand over the back of his shoulders, scratching a little with her nails to let him know of her want. They had shared almost every type of lovemaking over the years with each other, whether it was slow and passionate, fast and wild or with in one in control, or one tied up or blindfolded, or with any other of playful rules placed on one by the other. They had shared desperate fast joinings together, and others so long and intense that she would cry. They had made love in secret when they shouldn't, or where they shouldn't, but out of all of those times, the most wonderful moments between them had been when those moments had simply spontaneously begun. Such as now. When the two of them just simply followed instincts that were far better tuned to the other than the mind could ever know.

She surrendered to the moment now, grateful for its arrival and in it she made a promise to herself to be more expectant of loving him more often. With the children older, the chances were that they would have far more time alone together had increased, if not to make love then to be just together. Though their children were growing and moving away soon enough, what they had found together all those years ago was still so very strong. All those years ago, one decision in that tent in an alien camp on an alien world had been the best of her life. When she had accepted John's silent advance and they had made love in silence, without a word shared until the following day. They had not known what the next day would bring and they had been lost from all they knew except each other. In that place, on that world, she had been unable to hide her attraction and love for him anymore, but as it had turned out, neither had he.

His mouth slid wetly down to her upper chest and she twisted her body to pull his mouth closer to where she wanted it. She felt his smile over the upper swell of one breast and she closed her fingers tightly in his hair. This time he did not tease. He licked and kissed a straight line towards her lifted desperate nipple and his mouth enclosed around it, sucking and pressing his tongue to her. She cried out in delight, arching high against him, clutching her hands in his hair.

"Yes, oh yes," she muttered over and over.

He lifted his mouth slightly and blew gently over her wet nipple causing the sharp burst of cold that excited, especially when followed by the returning heat of his mouth. She murmured and strained as he tasted, licked and sucked her nipple, his hand cupping her tighter to his mouth. His lips lifted and began kissing towards her other breast, and once there he took that nipple into his mouth. She held his head there, murmuring with the feel of his tongue, the slightest edge of his teeth, and the wet sucking heat.

When he finally lifted his head from her, his hand still circling around both her breasts and up her cleavage, she pulled at his neck with both hands to draw him to meet her hungry kiss. She pushed her tongue into his mouth and his hands tightened around her. She sought the intimacy of the deep kiss, as his hands circling over her back and breasts. Her body throbbed with need that was circling down into her belly. He licked into her mouth and when his tongue invaded, she sucked on it, moaning as she did and she felt the shift in him as his arousal reached a new level. Breaking her lips from his, she laid back in his arm, his hooded eyes on her as she did. She reached down her body and unfastened the clasp of her Earth jeans that were so comfortable and form fitting.

His gaze dropped to where she opened the zip of her jeans, and his hand ran down her belly as she shifted in his lap to work her jeans down her hips. He reached to help, their attention turning towards the task of getting her free of the jeans and her underwear beneath. It was a little awkward without her standing up, which would have been far more efficient, but she did not want to leave her place on John's lap. They chuckled as the jeans got stuck around her upper thighs. He released her back, leaving her to sit up herself against him, and reached over her to pull the last of her clothes away. Her sandals had already dropped to the floor some time ago. Her legs finally free, she waited for his arm to return around her back, but instead both his hands lingered on her lower legs. He ran his hands up from her feet to her knees, massaging and stroking softly over her knees, and only then did he lift one hand to wrap back around her, giving her support again. He parted his legs slightly so that her backside sat more comfortably between his thighs and gave his groin more space. She rubbed her backside into place as she turned towards him, her hip pressing against him. His mouth descended on hers again and this time he forced the invasion.

She cupped his jaw as they kissed, licking and sliding her tongue along his. His free hand slid up from her knee, up along her side and circled over her breasts with his teasing light touch again. Once again, his kisses left her mouth, descending her throat, nipping and licking at her skin, as his fingers ran down her middle, through her cleavage and down her belly. She squirmed under the touch, the anticipation growing. As his hand reached her lower belly his eyes lifted to meet hers and she knew that her eyes would be as glazed as his were. He always liked to watch her as he first touched her and now he slid his fingers down further, over the natural mound of her and he slid his fingers straight through to her wet centre. She groaned loudly and his eyes sparkled with an unsaid delight and request. He ran his fingers through her folds with knowing experience of how to touch her, but it was still light and teasing in nature. She moaned again, and this time she made it nice and loud for him and he grinned.

The touch continued, light and arousing, yet far from the pressure she wanted. She parted her legs further, her left knee bumping against the edge of the desk. That drew his attention and he turned the chair slightly so that she could rest her knee against the desk. His attention drawn, his gaze dropped to his hand between her legs. She looked down herself and, as always, the image of his hand there brought forth a new swell of excitement. She heard him murmur as her wetness increased and his finger pressed into her. She circled her hips, urging him for more and she ran her hands over his chest and arm as he touched her intimately.

"Open your legs for me, Teyla," he whispered and she complied, parting them wider, hitching her left leg up on the desk surface, and his touch increased. He shifted so that he could see her intimately. His fingers penetrated her, sliding deeply, and she groaned, widening her legs even further and she dropped her head to lie against his shoulder. His body shifted against hers again, his face once again tucking in against her neck, his fingers now sliding, pumping and urging. She gasped with the growing need, shifting in his lap, desperate for more, for the release, for the promise.

He pulled his touch from her and his arm slid under her legs, pulling her closer and her leg off the desk. He turned in the swivel desk chair, the room turning around them and then he lifted her slightly. He dropped down onto to floor with her in his arms and she released his shoulders to turn and lie on her back on the rich dark rug across the study floor. John remained knelt in front of the chair, tearing at his belt buckle. She laid her head back as she watched him push down his trousers and he knelt over her. She lifted her knees and he crawled forward between them. She reached for her husband, sliding her hands over his shoulders and one down his belly to his clearly aching and needful arousal. She slid her fingers around him as he crawled up further over her, dipping to kiss her breasts again. She sighed at the touch, but she was in need of much more now. She ran her hands around his hips to his lower back, and from there slid to the fullness of his backside. He eased down over her, his belly touching against hers and she moaned at the contact, arching up against his hovering lips sliding up her cleavage. He shifted his hips up against her and one of his hands slid up and down one of her hips, her knee pulled up high and she wrapped her lower leg around his side. His fingers teased her centre briefly and then guided himself into her.

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, her arms around him, as he pushed into her. She was so near the edge of release that just the sight of her husband to go with the overwhelming pleasure would cause it to burst. She wanted just a moment longer, just a moment. He pushed deeper, stretching and filling her, and she gasped with the waves of pleasure. She held on just a fraction longer, until he settled deeply and shifted his weight, pressing her internally just where he knew she could not bear it in such a state. The orgasm hit her with a rush, exploding the need and pent up arousal that he had stoked to this point. She held onto him, crying out with pleasure holding the long loud sound until it died down into a high sigh and became nothing but a breath.

Awareness of the world returned, but there was deep warmth and satisfaction infused with it now. John nuzzled the side of her neck, his body warm over hers, still ready and buried deeply within her.

"Sounded like you needed that," he said with amusement and pleasure near her ear.

She chuckled, the sound seeming smooth and deep to her own ear. John kissed her throat.

"Anytime you need that you call me, okay?" He said as he pulled up from her neck, his weight on his forearms as he rocked his hips, getting into a more comfortable position over her. She rocked side to side with him, her legs, somehow, still around his hips. The movement moved him slightly inside her.

"Of course," she replied, feeling dreamy and peaceful.

The rug was comfortable and warm under her back and John's naked body above was even more so. She ran her hands down around his back, her mood relaxed and luxuriant. The overhead light glowed over his naked skin and she retraced her touch up over his shoulders and around his neck. He dipped and kissed her. It was far from the first time that she had found her release before him, but it seemed that he was in the mood to return her to the same place before he found his own. His kiss was slow, but teased her back into light arousal. Her body, relaxed yet sensitised by the previous release, responded gently. She murmured with the pleasure, enjoying how everything felt. He pulled his hips back slightly and pushed back inside her, testing how soon things could restart. He kissed her deeply again and then pulled from her lips and from her body. She grumbled at the loss of him, but she was feeling too good to protest any further. He chuckled at her.

"You got your fun, now its mine," he replied.

She looked up to see him seated between her legs and saw him drop a heap of fabric aside. She realised he had still been wearing his uniform trousers around his lower legs. He was completely naked now, but despite his arousal, he seemed inclined to play. She lifted her left arm and checked the time, worried that they would not have enough time for that.

"We've got loads of time," he assured her as he reached out, capturing her wrist in his warm hands, and removed her watch. She let him take it without concern – she trusted him when he said there was plenty of time till their children returned. He tossed the watch in the direction of his clothes and then reached back over her. His fingers touched down on one of her shoulders and then slid down her upper chest, trailing down between her breasts to her belly.

"I'm more interested in why you needed that release," he asked, though his voice held curious teasing. "Have I not been satisfying my wife?" He asked.

His wandering, smooth sliding touch slid down her belly and around one of her hips. His warm palm felt wonderful slowly sliding over her skin. He sat between her legs, one of her knees rested against his shoulder and her other leg lay straight, resting over his legs. His hand stroked down her straight leg, sliding down to her ankle and then lifted from her as he leant back over her and began his touch again at her shoulder. This time he stroked across her collarbones, around and over her shoulder and then down over her right breast. The stroke continued downwards again this time to her other hip. She felt like she was being explored, caressed and petted all at once.

"Have I?" He asked, returning her to his question. She pulled her fogged mind to his voice, which was deeper and held a lovely arousing vibration to it when he was like this. She could never remember him caressing her quite like this before though.

"You satisfy me greatly," she replied. "Was that not just obvious?"

She smiled up at him, her fingers sliding over his wandering hand and arm as he began another stroke, this time starting from one side of her neck, down over her other breast to her waist and then around her outer hip before sweeping along down her left leg to her foot. Only then did he look back up to meet her gaze, as his hand began yet another caress from her closest shoulder. His touch seemed to be growing slower, or perhaps it was her awareness of the touch that was increasing.

"We haven't been sleeping together as much lately," he remarked quietly and though the question should be one of concern and the beginning of a serious discussion, his voice held nothing but seductive tones.

"We have both been busy," she replied. She knew John very well, but there were times when he suddenly surprised her and this was one of them. They had discussed quieter lovemaking patterns before, but those times had usually related with having just had a child or a recent injury. They had not spoken on this subject for some time that she could recall.

"You've only been working at the new facility a couple of months," he argued gently. This time when he reached her toes he turned his stroke and moved up her body instead. His gaze turned to his hand briefly and then back to her face. "This has been going on longer than that."

She remembered the days when John had shared little, keeping much of himself contained. In those days, when they had both been much younger, she had been forced to push him slightly to find out his true concerns. He would hide his feelings behind carefree humour or quiet sullen times. Their years together had gradually reduced that tendency of his, and she had stopped worrying that he would not share until the point of crisis. That he had begun choosing to tell her about things that troubled him had been a wonderful precious gift for her. It had been a sign that he trusted her and she had learnt even more about her husband as the years passed. She in turn had shared more of herself with him, to the point now, so many years later, where she was no longer surprised when John admitted something emotional to her.

Nowadays, if there was something serious with which he wanted to discuss with her, he was willing to begin the conversation. Though he also chose his moment carefully, often selecting a situation that was in his best interests. With his military mind, he usually tried to be in control of those moments, such as now. He had chosen to discuss this subject now, one that had been quietly brewing in the background for both of them, whilst he stroked over her body after giving her a wonderful release. He had made sure she could be in no doubt that he found her attractive and he had no doubt as to her response to him, following her powerful release and the way she lay enjoying his caresses.

She smiled up at him, amused at his timing and also greatly relieved that he had noticed the pattern as she had. "We have been making love, just not as frequently," she felt the need to clarify.

"About once a week," he replied. "Sometimes less if I'm on Base a few nights."

She had not honestly been keeping score of it all, and it had only been recently that she had truly noticed how the days between their lovemaking had been lengthening.

"Averaging it out," he clarified.

It pleased and again relieved her to know that he had clearly been pondering the subject, and of course he would notice the numbers involved. His touch, sliding up her body, had reached her waist and he spread his fingers to span her middle and then dip around and up her right side, grazing her breast.

"I had not realised that," she replied honestly. "Why have you not said anything before? You are usually quite clear about your desires," she replied with a teasing smile.

He smiled in return, his gaze dropping to his hand that stroked around her right breast. Down and up, up and down, around the outer swell of her breast. He looked thoughtful as his touch lingered and then he shrugged as if he was not sure, and his touch moved up her chest. She frowned at him, knowing that he had thought his answer. Her right knee was still resting against his shoulder and she nudged him with it. He rocked with the movement and he smiled at her physical command to share.

His eyes lowered to his fingers which had reached to the base of her throat and his touch became feather light, sliding up the side of her neck, up to her jaw and along softly down towards her chin, and from there up to her lips. She parted them for him and as he ran his index finger along her lower lip, she dipped her chin and caught the edge of his finger with her lips and kissed. His fingertip remained between her lips for a moment, then slid from her lower lip slowly. Inside her, the warm fires were glowing again and her lips felt especially full after such attention. She swallowed as she looked back up to him, wondering if it had been a distraction as much as it had been a seduction.

His dilated eyes lifted from her lips to her eyes, as his fingers dropped to her shoulder. "I thought maybe you weren't as interested anymore," he confessed quietly and once the words were out his touch began moving again, sliding very slowly now, over to her other shoulder, sliding along her collar bones and rises of her ribs.

She was truly surprised by his admission. "Not as interested in sex?" She asked.

He gave her a half smile half smirk, as he still did every time she used that word.

"As interested in me," he clarified with another half shrug, his hand wandering down around her left breast.

She was tempted to sit up with him, but something told her that he needed this moment, the slight distance during which he could touch her freely. It was also very enjoyable for her.

"Why would you think that?" She asked letting him hear her surprise.

"We're both getting older," he began, his hand now at her belly button, around which he slid his touch, drawing circles wider and then smaller and then wider again, the touch light and soft.

"I have been concerned of the same," she admitted to him and he looked up from his circles to her. His hand continued slid from her stomach up her right thigh up towards her knee bent up against his shoulder as he frowned down at her. "That I am not as attractive as I once was," she explained, voicing her worry, feeling a little ashamed at the vanity of the concern.

His hand reached her knee against his shoulder and he dipped his head to kiss the top of her knee, making her smile. His fingers moved around to her inner thigh and stroked down part way, slowly, teasingly as he looked back up at her.

"You're _so_ beautiful," he told her as his touch retreated and then ran back down her inner thigh. She felt her breathing increasing with his teasing touch. His fingers lifted from her leg and he looked at her seriously. "You don't ever have to worry that I don't think you're gorgeous. You're beautiful on the outside, but even more so on the inside, where it counts, Teyla."

He had told her many words of love and affection over the years, each one she cherished, but she could not remember him saying anything quite like that before. She sat up, keeping her legs where they were around him, and touched one hand to her husband's jaw. She looked deeply into his eyes and then lowered her hand to press it against his upper chest, to the place where only the most treasured may touch another.

"What we shared together, even before we became lovers, taught me what kind of man you are. I love you to your soul, John Itinor Emmagan Sheppard, and when the day comes when we are both too old to even be able to walk, then we will sit beside each other until the Ancestors call us out of this life." She lifted her hand from his chest and touched his face again, her fingertips beside his lips. "My attraction to you physically is only one of the reasons why our lovemaking is so wonderful."

He had been looking very emotional until then, his eyes locked with hers as he took in her words and clearly agreeing with the sentiment. Now the playful sparkle reappeared in his eyes once more and he lifted an eyebrow at her.

"There are other reasons?" He asked innocently.

She smiled at him and leant across the tiny space between them and kissed his lips softly. He returned the kiss, their lips pressing softly and emotionally together. She slid her hand back to its former position over his heart, the vulnerable place where a Wraith would feed, repeating the symbolic touch. His kiss deepened slightly before their lips parted again.

She turned her gaze down to her hand on his chest, admiring the toned lines of him, and slid her fingers up over his skin, his chest hair lightly teasing her fingertips.

"You know that there are many reasons," she whispered to him as she watched her fingers reach the base of his throat and she slid them outwards along the strong line of his collarbone.

He nuzzled his nose and lips against the side of her cheek and to her ear.

She kept her eyes on her fingers sliding out to his shoulder and partway along her eye fell on the small round scar just below his right collarbone. She dropped her fingertips to the old scar, the memories lifting into her consciousness once more. The scar was well healed and barely noticeable unless one was close, but she always was and she had been there when the bullet had hit him, almost stealing him away from her and their family. His body held many scars from his long years as a warrior and some that could not be seen, physical and emotional, but this one scar always brought back the memories most fiercely. The blood over her hand as she had pressed against the wound, begging him to stay with her as he fought to keep conscious. Then the agonising hours whilst he had been in surgery and the days afterwards when he had lain barely conscious. She had sat with him through it all, never leaving his side, always touching him and talking to him.

He had recovered fully afterwards, though that recovery time had been the longest of all his past injuries and surgeries. All of the children had helped him in their own way through it and Jake, who had been still a tiny baby at the time, had lain in John's arms for much longer than was comfortable for John. He had needed his family with him and she knew he had seen the worry and fear that she had tried to hide from him. It was soon after his return to duty that he had one afternoon arrived in their quarters and began the discussion that they had both been avoiding for some time – that Atlantis was no longer the best place for them. They had lived long happy years there and had made considerable sacrifice for the greater good. They were warriors who had walked on the frontline to help all those who needed them, but that day they had both admitted that perhaps that was no longer appropriate. Their lives there, though full, had put them constantly at risk and could very easily have left their children orphaned in their earliest years. That conversation had led them to Earth and to this house.

She lifted her eyes from the scar and looked over John's shoulder to the study, his breath against her ear. This house was filled with memories from Atlantis, but since they had left the city, they had formed entirely new lives together here, not dependant on work alone. In truth, they had spent far more years here than they had in Atlantis. She glanced up at the lovely study, white washed walls and a brightly coloured painting of Evan's on one wall. She loved this house, as full of mess, shouting and music as it often was, it was her home and it was her life here with John and their family.

She slid her arms around his shoulders and pressed close to him, touching her bare chest to his and she pressed her cheek down against the long healed scar. He shifted against her, finding his most comfortable position, pulling her leg further over his hip so that they were pressed tighter. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his hands sliding up and down her back, knowing that he could feel her own gathered scars from a warrior's life. They had almost lost each other many times over the years, even before they had become lovers, and each memory was an affirmation of life and survival for her. She sighed happily against his skin and heard the rumble of amusement through his chest. His hands slid around her back in wider strokes, down and around her backside, his touch more seductive now in its intent.

She smiled against him. "I am surprised that you would think my affection had waned," she mused.

"You've got all those young athletic recruits to look after now…" He let the sentence drift off with meaning though his tone was teasing.

"Indeed I do," she replied as she grinned, keeping her cheek against his chest. "I am sure one or two of them might consider assisting me to release any sexual tension," she teased in turn.

He made a growling noise deep in his chest, the vibration buzzing right into her, teasing her nipples against his chest hair. She rubbed herself closer to him to increase the sensation.

"I'm damn sure some of them would jump at the chance," he muttered with more feeling than the teasing would need.

She pulled back from him to look up at him with a surprised frown. "You know that I would never do that."

"I know," he replied, his eyes dropping from hers to admire her exposed front with her sitting back from him a little. "Wouldn't stop any of them from trying." He sounded serious.

"I hardly think they that they would," she reassured him making sure that he knew this was only a joking matter with her tone.

He lifted a doubtful eyebrow as he brought one hand around her waist and slid the backs of his fingers up to her breasts, caressing up and around one nipple. "They would if they thought you were available."

She smiled bemusedly at him. "A married middle-aged woman with four children, who when she is not taking care of her family, is training with sharpened weapons?"

He lifted his eyes from her breasts with a sparkling grin. "Sounds _very_ good to me."

She laughed lightly at his comment, enjoying the teasing and perhaps a little too thrilled at his jealousy.

"Lieutenant Martins would probably crawl through broken glass if he could lick your toes," John informed her as he stroked his fingers up between her breasts.

Her amusement and disbelief made her chuckle at that thought of her fellow trainer at the Base, but she also cringed at the thought, toe licking was not something that she would find pleasurable.

"I would not enjoy that," she told him and he nodded. She slid her hands around his neck and down his chest. "I prefer to be licked in other areas," she added and John's smile became a grin, for he knew all the places where she did enjoy such treatment. His fingers lightly rubbed over the very tip of one of her nipples and she drew in a sharp breath.

"And only one particular man to do so," she added as she trailed her own fingers across his chest to tease his own flatter nipples. She looked up at his face, seeing his hooded gaze on her body as he nodded in agreement. She smiled. "And since Zelenka visits the training facility so much more frequently now, that should not be a problem."

He responded immediately to her teasing, both his arms wrapping around her and his hands landed on her backside, squeezing her. "Oh really?"

She laughed at him, rubbing her backside against his hands as she ran one hand down the centre of his stomach to where his arousal still strained. If it had dimmed during their conversation, it was not now. He pulled her up and closer, shifting his legs so that she could lift up across his lap. She knelt up over him, her hands on his shoulders, as she set her knees on either side of him. Before she could settle back down over him, he pressed his mouth to her breast and she leant forward, pressing her nipple further into his hot wet mouth. One of his arms slid around her, but his other hand slid down her backside, massaging, to dip between her legs and his fingers slid to her core.

She closed her eyes, her head back, and her hands clutching at his peppered hair. She rubbed herself against his touches, once again allowing her voice to rise louder than usual, free in the knowledge that they remained alone and free to express themselves. She ran her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp as his tongue slid across to her other breast. She slid her hands down his neck, gasping as his fingers slid up into her.

How quickly the two of them could now flow from passion to confession onto deep emotions, then teasing to sudden passion once more. She surrendered herself to it again, letting loose all concerns, and with full trust and acceptance with John she lost herself to the passion.

He pulled his mouth back from her chest, his breathing loud and fast, and she looked down at his glazed dilated eyes looking up at her with need. She ran her hands up the back of his neck again, keeping the direct eye contact. She began to lower herself over him, sliding her body against his. His heavy sighs of pleasure became her name as she reached between them and guided his arousal to her opening. She spread her knees wide as she settled into place in his lap, with him buried deep inside her. His arms around her, his hips flexed, lifting her slightly. She moved with him, but not lifting from him, keeping them pressed tightly together, controlling how much he could thrust.

She circled her hands over his shoulders and leant in to kiss his open mouth. He kissed back, his tongue seeking to thrust with more freedom than the rest of him could. She pulled her lips from his, again denying him too much too fast. His eyes were locked on her mouth as she licked her lips and she began to roll her hips. He held still and she smiled as she squeezed him inside her and he groaned long and loudly.

"Uh, yeah, that's good," he muttered breathily several times as she repeated the movement, lifting slightly and rolling her hips forward. "That's real good, Teyla." His expression was tightening, his breathing growing shallower, and his hips flexed under her as he was abruptly rushing towards his release point.

She leant forward and kissed him again, this time making the kiss deep and fulfilling. He returned it with as much focus as he could with his arousal so high and fast. She sucked on his tongue before lifting herself from him completely. He groaned with the loss, but she knelt up, breaking their kiss slowly, his head tilted back to keep it going until the last moment. She pulled on his lower lip with her teeth as she finally finished the kiss and she then shifted onto one knee and turned herself around. His hands steadied her at her sides and now with her back to him, his hand guided them back together as she sat back on his lap. She groaned with her own pleasure as he slid inside, rubbing her differently and satisfyingly. His hands slid up and down her back briefly, squeezing her backside set in his lap, before sweeping up and around to cup her breasts. He repeated his mutterings of approval as she began rocking herself in his lap again.

He kissed over her upper back, his hands massaging her breasts, his fingers capturing both her nipples. She closed her eyes and rocked faster on him, her hands sliding up his strong thick forearms to cover his hands over her breasts. He was near to breaking point, but she kept him hovering there, her weight not quite allowing him the freedom to thrust.

She rocked a few more times before his hands slid down from her breasts to her waist as he pushed up against her. She understood his request and she moved forward and up onto her hands and knees. He kept with her most of the way, his body settling over and behind hers, his mouth latching onto her neck as he began thrusting fast and deeply into her with their new position. She groaned loudly at the free, smooth strokes, delighting in the feel of John's mouth now on the back of her neck, his chest against her back, his groin against her backside and his thighs between her spread ones. His hands caressed all over her, up and down her sides, massaging her breasts and down her belly to between her legs. The pressure was building gloriously, and she panted with it, asking him for more and he sped up. His breath was hot on the side of her neck, up by her ear, licking and panting her name in return, his hips moving with a breaking rhythm as he tried to control himself despite the end clearly pulling him forward.

She gathered her mind enough to press against him to signal him to pause, and once he did, she pulled forward and turned to lay down on her back under him. She wanted to see his face and feel his heart against hers. She reached up for him as he laid down over her, and he pushed her knees up high and wide as he thrust straight into her with one sudden stroke. She reached up to cup his face, his jaw in her hands and he looked down at her, thrusting with his own needful pace and breaking rhythm. She opened her mouth wide, letting out the long moan that was her fast approaching release, but she kept her eyes on him. She watched his wild eyes shift from her mouth to her eyes before he lay down completely over her as he pushed in deeply and released with a loud groan of her name that became a long sighed expletive into her throat. He rocked into her, rubbing himself through his completion where he knew she needed to feel him, and her own orgasm hit in a full warm wave.

She arched her back, pressing herself tightly against him, pressing the back of her head into the thick pile rug as she sighed out a long heavy moan of her own. The warmth of release flowed through her, her body spasming against his, drawing his release out further, her body taking all it could from him. He groaned happily against her once more and his body relaxed completely over hers. She held him tighter as the last of her own waves of release faded, leaving deep pleasure saturated warmth behind. She relaxed her body down, the two of them sprawled in a heap on the rug, and she sighed out long and happily.

"That was good," he muttered with feeling, muffled against her shoulder.

She nodded her agreement, her eyes closed and she sighed again.

"We need to do that more," he added.

She nodded and murmured an agreement.

He shifted up from her onto his elbows above her. His hands brushed her hair from her cheeks and his lips pressed against hers softly. As his lips left hers, she finally opened her eyes, the room seeming bright. She smiled up at John's equally bright eyes, though he looked sleepy, as she felt. He leant down to kiss her gently again.

"I want us to have this more," he said against her lips. "Just you and me."

She nodded her agreement.

"The kids can go to the cinema every week," he said with a smile and she laughed lightly, but the mention of their children brought back her awareness of the passing of time. She turned her head towards John's left arm and wrist where he still wore his watch.

"We've got about twenty minutes if they drive straight back here," he informed her and she looked up to see that he was looking off towards the old television and computer games. The time was displayed there without her realising, so he had had full view of the time. She relaxed back down on the rug.

"The girls promised that they would return straight after the movie," she told him, though she was smiling at the thought.

"Please, they're _our _kids," he replied as he pulled up from her.

"They have Jake with them," Teyla reminded him as she lay watching him sit up, his hands sliding over her legs.

"So, we get cleaned up, dress for bed and cuddle up in front of the TV until they come back," he suggested.

She liked that idea. Though they had not been making love as often, they still cuddled up most evenings at some point and she made a promise to herself to make sure that she gave more time and attention to those moments once more. She sat up with him and gently touched her hand against chin to gain his full attention from where he had been looking far lower. She pressed her lips to his softly.

"I think that you are right; we should have evenings alone together once more," she suggested.

"Maybe we should leave the kids in and we'll go to the movies instead," he suggested and she smiled her agreement. "We could go to a nice restaurant or go sit in the park under that favourite tree of yours and watch the sun go down one evening."

"I would like that," she replied with delight.

"They've all got homework, but we can go out and have fun," John joked seriously.

She laughed in agreement. "We could go dancing one night."

He rolled his eyes as he began to stand up, pulling her up with him. They both muttered at aching muscles before he replied. "You know I can't dance," he told her his arm around her.

She lifted an eyebrow up at him. "I think that you dance _wonderfully_," she stressed the last word before she turned and walked over to collect her discarded clothes.

She picked them up, but walked naked to the door, looking over her shoulder to him as she left. His eyes lifted from her backside with a grin.

A quick wash and dressed in their nightclothes they made their way downstairs to the living room at the estimated time that the children would return. She went into the kitchen and made some of her favourite nighttime tea, and carried two mugs of the steaming brew into the living room. John was sat on the largest sofa directly opposite the wall screen and was flicking through the many channels to find something for them to watch. She set down the mugs on the low central coffee table and sat back onto the sofa with him. He lifted his arm automatically around her, but tonight pulled her slightly closer then normal. She ran her hand along his closest thigh, propping her knees up over the strong limb as she snuggled into her place against him.

"There's action, comedy or a crying movie," he informed her and she chuckled at him.

"How about a comedy," she requested and he triggered the controls set in the arm of the sofa to bring up the two movies to chose from and let her decide which one. They settled back further into the deep cushions to watch the movie that they had both seen before.

His arm tightened around her and he pressed his lips to her temple. "I love you to your soul as well," he whispered and she smiled as she rested her hand over his heart.

Lights glowed through the front window and she looked round with a sense of relief that the children were home safely.

"See told you," John declared. "I can time space battles and jumping through a gate just before it cuts out and you doubted me."

She looked up at him with amusement. "You burn your toast frequently," she pointed out as the front door opened and their family rushed inside, filling the house with bright excited stories.

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THE END


End file.
